


Within, Without

by Palecat



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Melancholy, Poetry, Post-Canon, Undertale Neutral Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 16:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19834393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palecat/pseuds/Palecat
Summary: Frisk takes a short walk down memory lane, reminscing about taking over the underground.





	Within, Without

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated.

'With human might  
I'll show you the light  
That in this world there's only one.  
Deep within  
Flesh and sin  
Wreathes the soul in fun.  
We'll play and play.  
Until you break.  
At least you'll know I wasn't a fake.  
Deeply ill.  
I'll need my fill.  
Do your best to run.'

~ A Poem by Chara

In the Ruins I sat upon a log, looking at the small stream cutting between the rocks. It was pretty. The stream shifted its way through the cracks in the stone like a river cut through a landscape. The way the water glittered in the limited, dim light of the crumbling capital was almost enough to make me smile. Almost.

I stood up, brushing the dust off of my legs. Days had past since I had broken the barrier. A few remained though... including myself. The friends I had made here, and the innumerable times I had talked to them, stuck with me in a way I wish I understood better. There was a draw to the monsters here that I didn't have around humans. People had their busy lives with things to do, jobs and work and school... I didn't feel attached to any of it. Instead all I felt was a vague apathy towards other people. Human life was just too tragic for me. I wanted to play.

And play was something that monsters knew how to do. It was always fun, enough to actually make me smile sometimes. The way we'd run, sprint, sometimes fly. It brought a rush to me that I didn't get on the surface. It made me feel so much more alive than going to school or learning royal treatises with Toriel. It brought me real joy.

I stepped over the stream, walking back towards Snowdin. Soon enough I encountered the first flakes, falling gently down to land on my face. My hair had grown a bit longer, protecting my neck from the chilled kisses of the weather. My smile grew. Everything about this made me feel so alive. Above in the surface world you had to wait so long to feel the intense weather of winter. It was so biting and harsh, it made me smile. It made any games you played with anyone outside all the more intense.

My feet led me out along the path, passing the town and heading further out. Off to the Waterfalls, where things became warmer. Humidity flushed my skin and opened my pores. The gurgling of water surrounded me around every turn. Fleeting wisps of dry air came from tunnels that led to Hotland, shepherding me to turn towards them. The heat guided me, until soon my face was damp with sweat. Onwards through the falls I marched, eventually reaching the lava spattered landscape.

This more than anything made me feel alive. Many of the monsters that had originally been here still made their homes in these places, and some still didn't have the sense to leave me alone. Soon I made it to the vents of hot air that went through the place, and off I went. Leaping and bounding through the air, twisting and turning. I cartwheeled and tumbled through like a seasoned acrobate. How many times I had done this, I'd lost count. Catapaulted over lava, I was hanging on a line between being alive and not by the very thinnest thread. A thread that spanned from me to the molten rock below. I was always that close to perishing.

Just as every time though, I landed on my feet at the other end... performing a bow to an imaginary audience... and the audience that was hiding from me. They didn't want to play. They were no fun. It was hard for them to keep up and they just ended up hurt. It was funny. Their instincts should tell them to get stronger so we could have a more fun time. Dance a faster dance, and the winner could have a bigger reward. Still they hid away. I smiled, and continued on my way.

Walking through had brought me to a chamber, one that was laced with so many infinite spider webs. Many were in disarray, and a large bundle of webs stood in the corner of the cave. Candles were lit around it, as well as small flowers laid upon the silky coffin. I felt the spider girl's gaze from above, frightened and grieving, but too afraid to do anything. Her pet had been very fun to play with, but its style was too simple. I kept up with it just fine. Now she served me pastries whenever I got hungry, and smooth cider whenever I needed to relax. I think her pet was a bad influence on her. She was so much more useful now. Less entitled without it making her feel strong.

The crunching of my feet faded away to the clack of my shoes on metal. The Core stood close at hand. I looked behind me, seeing nothing... then glanced ahead. Still nothing. I heard a shutter clack downwards towards the Mettaton resteraunt. A steak was left out for me. A reasonable offering. I strode towards it, seizing the prime cut in my hands and taking a bite. What a reward it was. Savory juices gushed out of it, dripping down my chin. A smile parted my lips, and I saw my face reflected on the chrome walls, walking deeper into the core. Wild hair framed my face, and my teeth and lips were dyed a slight red color from my snack. I took another bite, humming as I walked down the corriders. Occassionally a bit of dust would blow by. This place had many that tried escaping once I broke the barrier. They'd all been very fun, but nobody could beat my pace.

I kicked aside a bucket of bolts on my way to the elevator, a stray part of something that had done its best to keep up with me. I really did wish that thing had been built better. If it had actually just stayed in its original form it would have been so much more interesting! I'd probably have to find something to help me slow it down. It was so tanky... but instead it gave up that defence by having a glaring weak point on its back. That turned it into a useless bucket of bolts... that was no fun.

I took the elevator to the castle, finishing up my steak. It was cool in there, air conditioned from the heat of the core. Plus the music was quite nice. As I walked down the hall I passed a pile of casual clothes, ignoring it. Even he hadn't been able to land so much as a single touch onto me. Too slow, too predictable. He stuck to patterns I could just memorize. A lot of the time it was stuff I could predict without knowing anyways. Oh well, at least with him unable to play anymore, I could have my true fun. The most fun.

In the throne room there was a crown, a trident and a cape framed in flowers, laying on the ground. I hefted the trident in my hands, marvelling at its weight. It was so sharp at its ends, equipped with hooks to catch anyone that came close to the three prongs. I sighed though, setting it down. Not enough speed to a weapon like that. It sacrificed too much mobility. In a confined space like a throne room I would always favor my knife. The throne itself stood ahead, its back broken in the battle that had raged between me and Asgore. It had gone on for ages... but eventually the beast accepted that I was the better player. He hadn't managed to hit me either, just like that silly skeleton.

My bottom found the plush cushion of the throne, lounging across it. So many had met their ends here, too. All the others that had stumbled through here now, just me. All that remained. I was the royalty that held sway over this land. Not a single one of its inhabitants had ever so much as touched me and lived to tell the tale. I had broken the barrier all on my own. All that the monsters had to do was prove they were strong enough to make it out there. So far, none have succeeded.


End file.
